Replacing Lewis Hamilton, Andrea Kimi Antonelli has big shoes to fill at Mercedes next year. He’s one of the most talked about junior drivers in recent years, personally picked out by Toto Wolff as the next world champion.
With six rookies joining the grid in 2025, there’s strong competition to show off his skills. Here’s all you need to know about the 17 year old Italian driver.
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Kimi Antonelli’s junior years
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born in Bologna, Italy, in 2006. Racing was already in his blood as Marco Antonelli, his father, was the team founder of Antonelli Motorsport and now runs ARM motorsport. Marco enjoyed success in GT Racing.
He was quickly enthused by racing at seven years old when he started karting. He found success at the lowest level before the Mercedes Junior Academy scouted him at just 11 years old. Signed to Rosberg Racing, the OK junior category was his battleground.
He entered into the Karting European Championship in 2019, finishing second. In the World Championship he finished fifth and progressed into the Senior OK class in 2020 aged only 13.
Kimi went back to the European Championship next year and won this time round before a crash at the world finals saw him break a leg and foot. He was also named FIA Karting Rookie of the Year in 2020.
Returning in 2021, he defended his European title and Vroomkart magazine said his karting career ‘foretold the classic anthology of a world champion.’
Success in junior formulae
Antonelli was quick to learn the ropes of ADAC F4 and Italian F4 in 2022. Winning 22 out of a total 35 races that year, graduation up to Formula 3 cars was swift.
Prema chose him for the 2023 Formula Regional European Championship and they couldn’t have chosen better. He won the championship on his debut, overshadowed by the fatal accident of Dilano Van’t Hoff at Spa that year.
He also had brilliant victory in Zandvoort that year, winning by over 12 seconds in mixed conditions. Formula Scout ranked him as the most impressive junior driver through 2023.
Kimi skipped FIA F3 altogether, heading straight to Formula 2 to race for Prema in 2024. While he was hotly anticipated, it was not the fairytale season for Prema.
The team struggled to adapt to the new ground effect regulations and results suffered. Halfway through the season he was ninth, although Toto Wolff said a champion ‘needs to be thrown in cold water.’
He finished the year in sixth after missing the last round due to illness. With two victories and three podiums, his momentum in junior formulae stalled on his last step to F1.
Kimi Antonelli in F1
Mercedes recruited the Italian quickly after Lewis Hamilton’s shocking move to Ferrari. They conducted secret tests for the rookie in previous F1 cars and gave him his Free Practice debut at Monza in 2024.
He was aggressive straight out the garage, setting the fastest lap of the session within the first few minutes.
About 10 minutes into the session, however, he spun at Parabolica and had a 52G impact with the barrier. Toto Wolf defended him once again and the Italian was back in an F1 car during the Mexican GP weekend in FP1.
There has not been a driver this anticipated in a while. Mark Hughes even compared his FP1 debut to that of Tazio Nuvolari, who was a highly successful Italian racer in the 1930s.
Lewis Hamilton shared a similar path to racing as Ron Dennis scouted the youngster in his karting days. It’s advantageous for one team to hold onto a driver for this long as they can mould him into who he needs to be, which to them is a long-term prospect to take them out of current form.
After a while year of being hyped, will the pressure get to him? Toto Wolff spoke so highly of him that we now have to wait and find out if the rookie can prove his worth.
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